Blood Pressure and the sympathetic nervous sytem

Hello,

I am a 24 year old skinny male. My last blood pressure at the doctors office was 140/80. I get nervous that it's going to be high when they take it and I think that affects it.

I also have hyperhidrosis which is sweaty palms and feet but not that bad. They say the cause of this is an overactive sympathetic nervous system. Could this cause higher BP ?

There is also a surgery called ETS which stops your hands and a lot of your upper body from being able to sweat. A doctor told me that it also slows your heart on average 5 beats per minute and lowers 5 mmHg blood pressure.

I ordered a blood pressure machine, should I take a lot of readings and show the doc?

[erijon]

Welcome and thanks for your question. It sounds to me like you have what is known as white coat hypertension, it is very common and affects many people when they have their BP measured at their doctor's office. This link will explain it better than me;

http://www.blood-pressure-monitoring.org/white-coat-hypertension.htm

I have it as well so I know what you're going through. If you are going to track your BP, make sure you don't take multiple readings in one day. They will almost always continue to increase just as your system responds to anxiety at the doctor's office. Take one reading as soon as you get up in the morning and track it. There is a great BP Tracker here at Medhelp, feel free to check mine out. I always show my doctor my 90 day average so he knows how I'm doing. Again, once a day after sitting still for a couple moments. Anymore than that and you'll see the same results you get at the doc's office.

Good luck!

Jon